Letters to The Beacon
Dear Editor, In 2009, the Town proposed building sewers for the Spencer-Tuttle-Flint neighborhood (STF), in spite of a 2008 report by the...
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Inaccurate Septic Failure Map from Woodard & Curran
The following map was distributed to homeowners at a West Acton Sewer Committee meeting: This map was distributed by Joseph Shea, Senior...
Groundwater and Proximity to Fort Pond Brook
On October 22, 2019, the Town sent a letter to West Acton residents stating that their neighborhood was a needs/priority area for sewers...
Misleading Soil Quality Map from Woodard & Curran
Is there anything unusual about the soil in West Acton? A map shown by Joseph Shea, Senior Vice President, and Jack Troidl, Project...
Septic Systems: Better for the Environment, for Everyone
Septic systems have many advantages. First, they allow drinking water drawn from Acton's ground water to return to the local watershed....
Origin of the "Needs Area"
In 2002, the Town hired sewer company Woodard & Curran to do a study identifying wastewater solutions for Acton. Unfortunately, this...
Low-Pressure Sewers: Unreliable and Expensive
In the proposed West Acton Sewer District, two different types of sewer would be used. Most houses would be served by gravity sewer. In...
Proposed Sewer District
The proposed sewer district would encompass approximately 200 properties in West Acton. The map below shows the proposed district. If...
Septic vs. Sewer Cost Comparison
According to two of the most frequent septic installers in West Acton, ABC Cesspool and G. Nichols Construction, the average cost of...
Septic Fail Rate
Is the rate of septic system failure in West Acton higher or lower than average? To answer this question, we looked at Title V septic...
Water Quality
Measures of nitrates and fecal bacteria can indicate untreated septic discharge in surface and ground water. The plots below show these...
Cost for Current Sewer Users
The usage fee for the South Acton sewer has risen 70% since its inception in 2002. This can be seen the plot below, which shows the usage...
Cost of Septic Systems in West Acton
Cost of Septic System Replacement According to ABC Cesspool and G. Nichols Construction, two of the most frequent septic installers in...
Population Growth in Acton
How is Acton's population changing over time? As shown below, Acton is growing faster than any of its neighbors (source: U.S. Census):...
How long do septic systems last?
Search for "septic system life span" on the Internet, and you will find wildly different estimates, some as low as 25 years. How long to...
Sewer Overview
In 2002, the Town of Acton constructed a sewer in South Acton. Seven years later, in 2009, the Town proposed extending the sewer towards...
Housing Density
Sewers tend to allow high-density building to an extent that would not be possible with septic systems. In fact, it even becomes...
Does the new school need sewers?
The new Douglas/Gates school does not need sewers. In fact, the new school's on-site septic system was just approved by the Acton Board...
Sewers and West Acton Businesses
The sewer betterment fee for a commercial property is based on the parcel's land area. Current estimates of betterment fees show that...
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